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So You Think You Need An Agent?

      If  Tori Spelling needs an agent, then so do you. Yeah, but, she’s an actress, and I’m a writer. I did all the work; why should I give up 10 percent for the sale of my million dollar script? Unfortunately too many people believe they can write a screenplay without actually becoming an expert in screenwriting, so rather than reading through thousands of bad scripts, producers avoid accepting unrepresented scripts as policy. The script’s very ability to obtain representation by an agent lets producers know that at least four or five people have read it and found it to be, at a minimum, not wretched. Screenwriters need an agent, if for nothing more than to act as a filter and direct the flow of their scripts to someone who has the means to turn them into movies.

Where does one begin in obtaining an agent? According to Terry Rossio of Wordplay.com, one begins by writing a great script. In fact, Rossio suggests to:

First, write a great script. Now be very careful to have only one copy of it. Immediately upon writing FADE OUT, THE END, take that single copy and place it in a small, sturdy safe. Close and lock the safe. Take the safe directly to your basement, dig a hole seven feet deep, and place the safe in the hole. Refill the hole. Lock the basement door securely, and then go to bed. Then next day, get up and go to the basement. The place will be lousy with agents, several of them already in a bidding war over your script.

Although facetious, Rossio’s suggestion places importance on the actual writing rather than the agent finding. Rossio believes that one can not write a great script without meeting someone who can get the script in the right hands. He states that “the really hard part is step one—‘write a great script.’”  

            Along the same lines, Editor of The Hollywood Reporter, Alan Waldman, directs would be agent finders to “First, learn your craft.” He adds, “Agents, script writers, and authors agree that the first key to getting an agent for your screenplay is to write the best possible script, and only send it out when it is as good as it can be because it will be read by an agent (or the agent’s reader) a grand total of once.”  Author of Aladdin, The Mask of Zorro, and Small Soldiers, Terry Rossio, and his partner, Ted Elliot, spent five years writing the equivalent of twelve scripts becoming experts in their field before they even put a script into the market. He states, “Finally, at script number 13, we felt we had something good enough to put on the market. The script got into a bidding war, and we signed with our current agent.”

            So, after several years of study and practice and cultivation of the craft, how does a writer with a great script find an agent? In her online article, How to Get an Agent, Marisa D’Vari offers the following suggestions to obtain an agent:

1. Win a festival. But not 'any' festival. Only spend money and time applying to ones that will get you 'buzz.' Don't be shy to try for the top ones (i.e. Sundance).
2. Apple polish. Try to get to know influential people who teach Hollywood-related courses who have pull in the industry. Be shameless!
3. Get a job in the industry that will plug you into the network.
4. Keep writing. Agents want to see a factory.
5. Compile a list of 'dream agents' by tracking their deals and clients.    

Author of The Big Easy and Vice President of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), Dan Petrie, Jr. suggests the common advice of obtaining a list of WGA licensed agents who accept submissions and then sending out a query letter to every agency on the list is “bullshit, a waste of time, [and] a cruel burden on the already over-strained U.S. Postal Service.” In fact, from an interview of top industry agents, Petrie reports that unanimously the agents agreed query letters were meaningless. The top suggestion surfaced also unanimously—get a referral. Whether a secretary or another writer or a hair dresser, get a referral from someone whose taste the agent trusts.

            Rossio’s belief that one can not write a great script without meeting someone who can get one’s script into the right hands has merit. He suggests that one, in an effort to become an expert, by attending seminars, talking to industry pros afterward, making contacts with readers and assistants, meeting ‘journeymen’ pros online, or winning a prestigious competition will inevitably meet someone who can do something about a great script even if it’s just passing it along to the next person to read. He cautions, however, that “contacts are easy. I know lots of people who have set out to make contacts—and they did it. Takes about three or four weeks, tops, of concerted effort to make a contact in the film industry. Contacts are easy. Writing a great script—that’s hard.” 

In the end, if scriptwriters want their great scripts read, they must have an agent because no producer will read an unrepresented script, and if one puts in the effort and time to write an excellent script one’s chances of finding an agent increase. A bad script, or even an adequate script, still won’t get sold even if it is represented, so the emphasis must be placed first on the writing then second on the agent acquiring. The overall consensus from the researched industry professionals is that one must have talent, a great script, and faith that it will be read by the right person at the right time. Basically, if you write it, they will read.

Karen Walker